Stephen Constantine Reveals His Long Term Objectives for the Blue Tigers After the AFC Asian Cup

​​Indian national football team's coach Stephen Constantine has voiced his opinions on building a team for the future, with the first baby step being the AFC Asian Cup. Additionally, he once again stressed that his selectios players based on ability and not their age.

​India will be fielding the second youngest squad at the Asian Cup in UAE with an average squad age of about 25 years.

Speaking to ​AIFF's official website the next morning ​after India's 0-0 draw with Oman, Constantine stressed on the logic behind his squad selection as he said, "I never differentiate between seniors and juniors. They are all playing for India. I'm not interested in their ages, but their abilities. Our average age is about 25. The situation is fantastic for Indian Football where we can foresee a team for the next 10 years."

Revealing what the AFC Asian Cup means for the India national team's future, Constantine claimed, "After this tournament, we'll have a young Indian squad with an experience of playing in an Asian Cup."

The English coach then moved on to analysing the game against Oman and praised his players. He said, "It was a very good game for us. Oman were a very difficult opponent and have been unbeaten in the last 12 months. The boys worked very hard and I'm very pleased with the positive result."

Constantine continued, "It was phenomenal from the work-rate perspective. The numbers are exceptional. We were superb physically."

Oman came into this game on the back of a 12-game unbeaten streak which included wins against the likes of Kuwait, Palestine, Bahrain as well as Saudi Arabia.

Regarding the AFC Asian Cup beginning next month, with almost 27 percent of the population in UAE being Indians, the Blue Tigers are expected to get incredible support from the stands when they take the field.

The Blue Tigers kick-off their AFC Asian Cup campaign against Thailand at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi on January 6, 2019. The match is slated to kick-off at 7pm IST.